Human-coyote conflict has intensified in Nova Scotia, following a fatal attack in Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada (CBHNPC) in October, 2009. This conflict has impacted people and coyotes across the province, and raised numerous questions about how humans and coyotes relate to one another and what steps we might take to avert future conflict. From 2011-2012, I used scat, remote camera, and snow tracking surveys to assess the degree of spatial overlap between human and coyote activity in CBHNPC. I found a negative correlation between hiker/biker and coyote activity in the summer and fall [r=-.830, n=14, p<.01]. In the winter, I found no correlation between human and coyote activity [r=.006, n=10], and a negative correlation between coyote and domestic dog activity [r=-.612, n=10, p<.05]. I discuss the implications of these research findings and the application of noninvasive survey methods in this, and potentially other, human-wildlife conflicts.

Recently, Hudson Bay experienced unidirectional trends in temperature, sea-ice extent, time of break-up, and length of the open-water season. Predicted impacts on population dynamics of ice-associated species include habitat loss and shift in prey availability. The ringed seal (Phoca hispida) depends on a stable ice platform with sufficient snow depth and a productive open-water season for reproduction and survival. Evidence of ringed seal sensitivity to environmental variations has been reported, but mechanisms involved were poorly understood. In western Hudson Bay, density, life-history traits, and diet of ringed seals were monitored over two decades, providing an opportunity to understand the effects of climatic variations on the population dynamics of this long-lived carnivore. Ringed seal density was estimated through strip-transect analyses after aerial surveys were flown in western Hudson Bay in late spring during the annual moult in the 1990s and 2000s. During these periods, ringed seals were also sampled from Inuit subsistence fall harvests In Arviat, NU, and ages, reproductive status, percentage of pups in the harvest, body condition, and diet were assessed. Strong inter-annual variations in these parameters were observed, and a decadal cycle was suggested and related to variations in the sea-ice regime. The cold and heavy ice conditions that prevailed in western Hudson Bay in 1991-92 likely induced a decrease in pelagic productivity, reducing the availability to ringed seals of sand lances (Ammodytes sp.), their major prey. The nutritional stress endured, combined with a strong predation pressure, led to a decrease in ringed seal reproductive performances, pup survival, and density during the 1990s. The recovery of ringed seal demographic parameters and number in the 2000s was associated with the immigration of pups, juveniles, and young adults into western Hudson Bay. Impact of current climatic trends on ringed seal population dynamics was not apparent, but considering the limited range of environmental variations tolerated by ringed seals, the response of this species to climate warming might be of a catastrophic type. Ringed seals were found to be good indicators of ecosystem changes, and long-term monitoring of the species in Hudson Bay should be a priority.

This study examines the impact of snowmelt runoff on nutrient transfer from the terrestrial to the aquatic (lake) portion of a subarctic catchment 6 km WSW from Schefferville, Quebec. / Statistically significant differences in snow chemistry were recorded among the tundra, woodland and forest snowpacks. Significant overland substantial scouring of nutrients from the organic horizons were recorded in the tundra, woodland and forest. A calculation designed to generate, on a daily basis, 70% of the meltwater from the terrestrial catchment to the lake indicates overland flow is a predominant route of meltwater during the spring. This calculation made possible the determination of daily nutrient mass transfer from land to lake. The daily nutrient mass balance of input and output to Elizabeth Lake during springmelt indicates significant retention of land source nutrients. Deuterium/hydrogen measurements aided in determining mixing of snowmelt and lake water. The data indicate snowmelt water is undistinguishable from lake water at depths greater than 1.0 m. / It is concluded that snowmelt runoff is an important event for nutrient transfer from terrestrial to aquatic systems in this environment.

Efektyvų saulės jėgainių veikimą labai lemia geografinė padėtis, nes Saulės spindulių srautas žemės paviršiuje pasiskirsto netolygiai. Lietuva yra vidutinio klimato juostos šiaurinėje dalyje, kur dažnas debesuotumas, rūkas, lietus, sniegas, įvairios kilmės dulkės, tai veiksniai lemiantys fotovoltinių sistemų efektyvumo sumažėjimą. Baigiamajame magistro darbe nagrinėjami saulės fotovoltiniai įrenginiai, gamybos technologijos, rūšys, pagrindinės charakteristikos, konstrukcijų montavimo ypatybės vidutinių platumų regionuose. Aptarta įvairių šalių patirtis eksploatuojant saulės jėgaines skirtingomis klimato sąlygomis. Išnagrinėti pagrindiniai veiksniai, lemiantys jėgainės našumą. Darbe analizuojamas sniego, dulkių, lietaus lašų poveikis fotovoltinių įrenginių charakteristikoms. Atlikus eksperimentinius tyrimus, vertinami patirti nuostoliai dėl atmosferinių veiksnių įtakos. Aprašyti tyrimų ir analizės metodai. Išnagrinėjus eksperimentinių tyrimų rezultatus, pateikiamos baigiamojo darbo išvados ir pasiūlymai. Darbą sudaro šešios dalys: įvadas, saulės energetikos srities literatūros apžvalga, tyrimams naudotos medžiagos, metodai ir aparatūra, tyrimų rezultatai ir jų aptarimas, išvados ir pasiūlymai, literatūros sąrašas. Darbo apimtis – 73 p. teksto be priedų, 63 pav., 4 lent., 41 bibliografinis šaltinis. / The efficiency of solar power plants is strongly influenced by geographic location, because the solar radiation flux on the surface is distributed very irregular. Lithuania is situated in a humid continental zone in the northern part, where is frequent cloud cover, fog, rain, snow, dust of various origins, these are the factors determining the efficiency of photovoltaic systems. The thesis deals with solar photovoltaic devices, manufacturing technology, types, main characteristics, structural features of mounting at medium latitude regions. Discussed the experience of different countries operating solar power plants in different climatic conditions. Analyzed the major factors affecting plant performance. This paper analyzes the impact of snow, dust, rain drops on the characteristics of solar photovoltaic equipment. After experimental study measured the efficiency and losses due to atmospheric factors. Described the research and analysis methods. After considering the experimental results, conclusions are presented. Structure: introduction, solar energy literature review, materials and methods used in research, results and discussion, conclusions, references. Thesis consist of: 73 p. text without appendixes, 63 pictures, 4 tables, 41 bibliographical entries.

Recently, Hudson Bay experienced unidirectional trends in temperature, sea-ice extent, time of break-up, and length of the open-water season. Predicted impacts on population dynamics of ice-associated species include habitat loss and shift in prey availability. The ringed seal (Phoca hispida) depends on a stable ice platform with sufficient snow depth and a productive open-water season for reproduction and survival. Evidence of ringed seal sensitivity to environmental variations has been reported, but mechanisms involved were poorly understood. In western Hudson Bay, density, life-history traits, and diet of ringed seals were monitored over two decades, providing an opportunity to understand the effects of climatic variations on the population dynamics of this long-lived carnivore. Ringed seal density was estimated through strip-transect analyses after aerial surveys were flown in western Hudson Bay in late spring during the annual moult in the 1990s and 2000s. During these periods, ringed seals were also sampled from Inuit subsistence fall harvests In Arviat, NU, and ages, reproductive status, percentage of pups in the harvest, body condition, and diet were assessed. Strong inter-annual variations in these parameters were observed, and a decadal cycle was suggested and related to variations in the sea-ice regime. The cold and heavy ice conditions that prevailed in western Hudson Bay in 1991-92 likely induced a decrease in pelagic productivity, reducing the availability to ringed seals of sand lances (Ammodytes sp.), their major prey. The nutritional stress endured, combined with a strong predation pressure, led to a decrease in ringed seal reproductive performances, pup survival, and density during the 1990s. The recovery of ringed seal demographic parameters and number in the 2000s was associated with the immigration of pups, juveniles, and young adults into western Hudson Bay. Impact of current climatic trends on ringed seal population dynamics was not apparent, but considering the limited range of environmental variations tolerated by ringed seals, the response of this species to climate warming might be of a catastrophic type. Ringed seals were found to be good indicators of ecosystem changes, and long-term monitoring of the species in Hudson Bay should be a priority.

This dissertation presents new methods for detecting dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of Arctic sea ice using radar remote sensing. A new technique for sea ice motion detection from sequential satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images was developed and thoroughly validated. The accuracy of the system is 0.43 km obtained from a comparison between SAR-derived ice motion vectors and in-situ sea ice beacon trajectories. For the first time, we evaluated ice motion tracking results derived from co-polarization (HH) and cross-polarization (HV) channels of RADARSAT-2 ScanSAR imagery and formulated a condition where the HV channel is more reliable than the HH channel for ice motion tracking. Sea ice motion is substantially controlled by surface winds. Two new models for ocean surface wind speed retrieval from C-band SAR data have been developed and validated based on a large body of statistics on buoy observations collocated and coincided with RADARSAT-1 and -2 ScanSAR images. The proposed models without wind direction input demonstrated a better accuracy than conventionally used algorithms. As a combination of the developed methods we designed a wind speed-ice motion product which can be a useful tool for studying sea ice dynamics processes in the marginal ice zone. To effectively asses the thermodynamic properties of sea ice advanced tools for modeling electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering from rough natural surfaces are required. In this dissertation we present a new analytical formulation for EM wave scattering from rough boundaries interfacing inhomogeneous media based on the first-order approximation of the small perturbation method. Available solutions in the literature represent special cases of our general solution. The developed scattering theory was applied to experimental data collected at three stations (with different snow thicknesses) in the Beaufort Sea from the research icebreaker Amundsen during the Circumpolar Flaw Lead system study. Good agreement between the model and experimental data were observed for all three case studies. Both model and experimental radar backscatter coefficients were considerably higher for thin snow cover (4 cm) compared to the thick snow cover case (16 cm). Our findings suggest that, winter snow thickness retrieval may be possible from radar observations under particular scattering conditions.

Snow surface energy balance was studied along an elevational gradient and under varying forest cover types during the ablation season of 2007 in the Coldstream Basin, Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada. During the snowmelt period, 1-4% of the peak annual snow-water equivalent (SWE) was lost to sublimation in open sites – averaging 0.4 mm d-1. Melt and sublimation rates increased significantly with elevation, and were higher and more variable in the open sites than under forest canopies. Melt rates were driven almost entirely by sensible heat fluxes and exceeded 30 mm d-1 during large-scale advection events. The melt and sublimation processes observed at the snow surface were significantly linked to conditions in the atmospheric boundary layer. From these linkages, a proxy record of historical ablation season energy fluxes for the period 1972-2007 was created. Significant trends towards earlier dates of snowmelt and freshet onset were detected, as was a trend towards increasing ablation-season temperatures at the 850 mb height. Significant correlations between estimated historical ablation-season melt and sublimation and the regionally dominant teleconnection indices were also found. This study significantly advances the understanding of ablation season snow-surface energy exchanges, and the links to the driving atmospheric conditions in the Okanagan Basin.

Snowmelt runoff in the mountainous eastern part of Turkey is of great importance as it constitutes 60-70% in volume of the total yearly runoff during spring and early summer months. Therefore, forecasting the amount and timing of snowmelt runoff especially in the Euphrates Basin, where large dams are located, is an important task in order to use the water resources of the country in an optimum manner. The HBV model, being one of the well-known conceptual hydrological models used more than 45 countries over the world, is applied for the first time in Turkey to a small basin of 242 km2 on the headwaters of Euphrates River for 2002-2004 water years. The input data are provided from the automatic snow-meteorological stations installed at various locations and altitudes in Upper Euphrates Basin operating in real-time. Since ground based observations can only represent a small part of the region of interest, spatially and temporally distributed snow cover data are acquired through the use of MODIS optical satellite. Automatic model parameter estimation methods, GML and SCE_UA, are utilized to calibrate the HBV model parameters with a multi-objective criteria using runoff as well as snow covered area to ensure the internal validity of the model and to generate a Pareto front. Model simulations show that the choice of study years and timing of satellite images affect the results and further suggest that more study catchments and years should be included to achieve more comprehensible conclusions. In the second part of the study, the calibrated HBV model is applied to forecast runoff with a 1-day lead time using gridded input data from numerical weather prediction models of ECMWF and MM5 for the 2004 snowmelt period. Promising results indicate the possible operational use of runoff forecasting using numerical weather prediction models in order to prevent or at least take precautions before flooding ahead of time.

This paper proposes the notion that words mirror ideas, perspectives and worldviews. Etymologies and meanings of general words for ‘islands’ in a number of languagesin North and West Europe are then discussed. Here, islands are shown to be etymologicallyconstituted by the interplay between land and water, and which of these two is emphasizedvaries. In the third section, a number of Swedish island words are surveyed, in an attemptto illuminate the principle of linguistic relativity. Finally, the implications of these findingsfor island studies are discussed.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.